We got back early yesterday morning from 8 days on St Thomas. My husband and I had a wonderful time. Even though I left all my notes at home, I remembered enough to make me certain that haunting this board for the last month was invaluable.

We booked what we thought was a studio at Crystal Cove at Sapphire Beach West (managed by Antilles Resorts, I found out) through Expedia, after linking from this Trip Advisors. We ended up at Sapphire Beach Resorts, D building (D210, which belongs to a New York couple). We had the perfect location, but a only a fair room and service. ($50 room in $1000 location for about $150 a night - a good deal if you ask me.) From the outside (my only view of the rest of the Resort area rooms), I'd say we were lucky, both with the switch, and especially with the choice of the general Sapphire Beach location.

The building is right on the water, between the Sapphire pool with the bar and Steakhouse and the Marina, the views and breezes are fantastic, and the access, location and beach are as good as any we saw on the island. The beach access is actually better than most hotels we saw.

The studio room was adequate with a few problems (The sliding balcony doors didn't slide, the louvered panels between the BR and living areas are in poor shape, hot and cold water reversed and a lack of supplies in the kitchen, a refrigerator that roared, leaking shower arm and tiny ants anywhere we let water stand - I was very careful and came armed with lots of zip locked baggies -, sheets that weren't changed after the 1st night (that I could tell) and regular pillow cases on king pillows, poor quality twins pushed together for king bed, no cushion on top and obvious gap if we weren't careful). We still slept like logs, had plenty of towels and the room was cleaned and bed made each day. The balcony and the view were the best.

The lemons and tomatoes really are $1 a piece, even at Cost U Less. I think that I'd have done just as well at the Marina Market at Red Hook. (I should have remembered that advice from board members). We made our own breakfasts and a couple of lunches and suppers in the room.

We did buy bottled water, but I drank from the faucet, too, and I couldn't tell the difference. (My husband prefers bottled water). On the way out of town, we finally found my husband's Diet Dr. Pepper at an Esso station.

Dependable Car Rentals was a perfect choice. Thanks, again, to the advice of this board.

We didn't even try to do everything, this was a goof off, nap and read vacation. The location was perfect for us at Sapphire Beach. We rented a car and got lost most days on our drives. But, it's an island, so we eventually found our way around and we weren't in any hurry.

We ate at "Hook Line and Sinker at the docks in French Town, the SteakHouse and SeaGrapes at Sapphire Beach, and Secret Harbour. I wouldn't go back to Sea Grapes, because the food and presentation are bad hotel style. I wish we'd visited The Blue Moon sooner and more often, and we *did* go to Hook, Line and Sinker for lunch twice. One night we went over to St. John and ate at Paradiso, where the food was great, but the waitress a little confused about which liquors they had and didn't have and how to handle that. The hostess stepped up and took care of us. They wouldn't seat anyone inside that night, waiting for a large party that never showed up in the 1 1/2 hours we were there. Thursday night, we ate lobster at Duffy's, enjoying our conversation with our waitress, who's from Washington DC, has been on the island for 2 months, and a little culture shocked due to the lack of interest in the world news and politics.

We went out of our way to eat at Cuzzins, but parking is difficult. We saw lots of other people parking on Main Street, so we did, too, but went back as soon as we could, since we couldn't figure out whether it's legal or not. Cuzzins had good food and large portions. I'd go again, with a taxi or better planning for parking. Looking for the restaurant was interesting, too: we ended up going all the way to the top on one of the narrow Gade's that wind up the hill behind Cuzzin's. In Texas, those aren't "streets," those are hallways with hard floors!

The "no problem" attitude and "working on island time" does not represent the attitudes of dirvers on the island. Tailgating and passing and no one goes the 10 miles an hour. We saw a couple of the expected accidents, too.

How did I miss that Blackbeard's Casle is only open to 1 PM? Or that "Drake's Seat" is exacty that: a seat on the side of the hill?

We signed up (with the kind help of Carol at the Sapphire events desk)for the Limnos day tour with visits to the Baths and snorkeling off Norman's Island. They have a Thursday sail for $80 (plus the BVI customs fees) that is a good value, with all day food and drink included. We also signed up for the Jost Van Dyke Friday nite sail for $45 (no other fees, open bar on boat, but dinner not included), but it was cancelled, because only one other person booked. The crew on our day sail were fun and helpful and we enjoyed the trip and the visit to the Baths.

I parasailed at Sapphire Beach Marina one day. If you knew what a wimp I am, you'd be impressed. James and Glen were cute boys and helpful for a Gramma.

I didn't see a bad beach on the whole island, but we loved Magan's Bay and Secret Harbour, as well as Sapphire. I think a nicer place on Sapphire might be our choice if/when we go back.

We did laundry one day. There's a clean, fairly well run laundry at Tutu Mall, at the very back, behind KMart. that also has an airconditioned area and a snack bar.

The electricity went off several times during the week, both at the Resort and in Charlotte Amalie. On Monday morning, I brushed my teeth by candle light, with my battery toothbrush! Driving in town is interesting enough, but when the streetlights are out, it's *really* interesting.

We made one mistake: we ended up going to the airport almost 4 hours before our flight. We'd have been fine with 2 hours.

Thanks, Islander for the resource and thanks to all of you who add to the information on this forum.